A Warlock's Past
by Karen Hikari
Summary: Magnus and Alec had thought about adopting a lot of times, but something always stopped them. Simply, they weren't prepared. Not until that happened.


I had to write something about this couple! I simply had! And Magnus' past and the warlocks . . . the idea appeared and I had to write it!

_A Warlock's Past_

It was something around six in the afternoon and Magnus walked through a disregarded neighborhood.

He usually avoided places like that for his own safety. Places filled with drug dealers, street fighters, buildings that threatened with falling down at any moment, drunken people, aggressive people, robbers, prostitutes. It was not a nice place to be. But he had the feeling there was something he needed to do there, right there at that moment.

It had been paining him for a while now. During the nights, he dreamt of a specific house -red bricks, a white door, and a dark inside-, he heard a child's whimpers and someone, a man, yelling, though he couldn't make out the words, and then the address. He was confused. He didn't know if they were the nightmares about his childhood that hunted him once every fifty or a hundred years, or a signal that had nothing to with the way his stepfather had treated him.

He continued walking. Nobody was paying attention to him, or at least it seemed so.

The abandoned streets, the unconscious bodies lying limp at every corner–some could be dead, others just slept there because they had nowhere else to go, some were drunk and some others were on the drugs–they all seemed the same.

He wanted to go, right then. He wanted to go back to his house, where Chairman Meow and Alec would be waiting for him and wondering where had he been and why he wasn't answering the cell phone. But he couldn't. Not yet.

If those dreams were really a signal, and the sobs he heard weren't his own, then there was someone that needed help. He couldn't deny that to someone with an abusive father, he couldn't do something like that after they had denied him that help when he'd been a child.

But he wasn't seeing anything that gave him a clue of where to head now that he was in the neighborhood.

It was when he was seriously thinking of retracing and going back home when the scream came. It was strong, pain-filled, young. And then it was over, muffled, like the pleading cries of a murder's victim. Then, another voice started yelling hysterically.

"I've told you, you stupid piece of shit! Don't you dare to question the Lord's words!" Magnus froze in his spot, stunned. What was that? A hallucination? What stupid joke was the universe playing to him? Hadn't he had enough of the Lord's and of God's stupid speeches as a child?

Maybe it had been a signal after all.

He hurried through the labyrinthine narrow streets and alleys, following the elder's voice, that kept screaming and insulting the first person, that now sobbed quietly.

When he turned what seemed the third corner he was finally able to see it, the red-bricked house with a white door and the male that yelled at a tiny figure that was curled up into a ball and cried silently, trapped between a wall and the man. He couldn't make out the words that the adult said, but he was very sure of what was coming next, he knew it, just like the kid. The man's right hand was a fist, raised above the kid's body, ready for coming down and hit him.

'No you won't.' Magnus thought. 'Don't even think of it.'

Before the male could hit the boy, or even take notice of the warlock, Magnus was already delivering a sharp blow in the right side of his head, sending him flying first and then to the floor.

"What do you think you are doing, you bastard?" he screamed, before knowing what he was doing. It was a surprise for him also, having stepped into a fight like that; he hadn't planned it, but seeing the scene, both too familiar and well-known to him, he couldn't stay arm-crossed while he watched how an adult, strong and fierce, beat up an innocent child until he got tired of it. No, there simply was no way he did that. No kid deserved that, not a mundane, not a Shadowhunter, and not a Downworlder. Period.

The man, stunned, looked at him in the eye. He had a pair of green eyes that were clouded with insanity and madness. The eyes of someone that thought he was doing the right thing, even if that was causing other's suffering.

"What do you think you are doing?" he screamed. "Do you know what you are defending?"

"An innocent" Magnus answered, without doubting.

"No, you fool! A monster! It's a monster!" he screamed, hysterically. Magnus almost laughed at the argument, but not a happy laugh, one pregnant with sarcasm and taunt. A boy, no older than ten, that was hugging himself, scared to dead, while someone that seemed his father kept hitting him savagely was a monster? What was him then, a penguin?

"Are you stupid?" he asked, screaming. "Jeez, you have to be! He's a kid!"

"Is that what you think?" the man answered, smiling maniacally and then he laughed, insanely, hysterically. "You think it's a kid? You're insane!" he yelled, while Magnus couldn't help but notice the irony. The man got to his feet to seem taller and more imposing, though Magnus was still a good seven centimeters taller than him. "We'll see that! You want it? You have it! Take it, you idiot! Take it! You deal with this son Satan and then, when you realize your sin, then you'll give me the reason! But I'll be too late!"

"F-father?" called the kid, pleadingly, crying even harder. "Father?"

"Don't call me that, you stupid! I've told you!" he screamed, rolloing his eyes for showing how upset that made him, and then turned to Magnus again. "Now it's your problem, Mister Hero!" he said, before turning around, smiling crazily, and then laughing hysterically.

The kid tried to follow him, but by the time had gotten to his feet, his father had already turned at a corner and all left behind was loneliness. His small body started trembling, he hugged himself and then he fell to the ground again, murmuring intelligible words.

"Don't leave me, Father. Please, pl-please don't' go. I-I'll be good. I pro-promise, Father, please" he cried, while convulsive, dry sobs ran down his back, he hugged his legs to his chest, trying to find something real to cling to.

Magnus inhaled deeply, thinking. What exactly had just happened? What had that been? A joke? Had that insane guy just left his 'son' abandoned with a complete estranger? That couldn't be happening!

Jeez, he was in trouble now. He couldn't leave the kid there, in the middle of the street, in his own.

Maybe he had survived after burning his house and his stepfather with it, but that had been like 800 years ago, in a different age, in a different place—and he was a warlock. This kid was a mundane, a weak, forsaken, abused mundane, that counted no more than eight, maybe nine years.

He couldn't leave him, he decided.

He would take him home that night, talk about it with Alec, maybe take him to a foster house the next day, treat a bleeding wound that he had just realized existed in his right cheek, feed him. He sure was a mundane, but it was exactly because of it that he couldn't leave him there: he was weaker, and he needed help, just like he had more than eight centuries ago. Nobody had helped him back then, but that didn't mean he was mad at the world and would deny that help to someone else now.

He would take him home that night, he determined.

When he had settled his thoughts, more than ten minutes had gone by, and the kid had calmed down a little, if only in the outside. He at least had stopped shaking.

He cleared his throat, and then, trying to sound kind, he started. "Hey, boy, it's okay." He said. "You'll be fine, I promise. Come on, I'll take you to a safe place." The boy nodded, but it was obvious he was scared. He got to his feet, shakily, but Magnus waited patiently for him to be ready. "What's your name?" he inquired warmly.

"Daniel" he murmured, fearing what this strange would do, though his answer was polite.

"Well, Daniel, I'm Magnus. And apparently, you're coming with me now, is that okay with you?" the boy nodded distantly, while new tears fell from his eyes, that stayed glued in the cold asphalt.

Magnus began walking, and then turned, to make sure that the boy followed him, which he did. For a moment he considered reaching for the boy's hand, but he soon gave up the idea. When he'd killed his stepfather and burned his house, more than fifty years had passed before he was slightly comfortable with being touched again. But a mundane didn't have fifty years before feeling okay with physical touch, had he? Still, the kid was already scared as everything was, he wasn't going to make it harder on him this first night as an orphan.

They continued walking, until they were in the front door of the apartment. Usually, he would use his magic to open it, but he wasn't comfortable with using magic with a mundane next to him, so instead, he made the key appear in his pocket and took it out, pretending he was used to do it.

As soon as the door was open, Alec's voice was heard.

"Magnus! Where were you?" he called. And then a meow giving him the reason seconded.

Magnus breathed deeply, unsure of what his boyfriend would say about the kid. He gestured for the boy to step inside, since he had stayed at the door entrance, then he pointed at a chair next to the table. The boy sat obediently.

"Alec" he said "I need to talk to you. It's important." Finally, Alec came out from the kitchen, with an apron tied around his waist and holding a bowl with what seemed tuna inside.

"What?" he said, puzzled. And then he saw the kid next to Magnus. He repressed a surprise scream, but his lips transformed into an 'o' and then he turned to look at Magnus, demanding an explanation with his eyes.

Magnus nodded and then gestured Alec to go back to the kitchen, following him.

"Magnus" muttered the Shadowhunter "what's that kid doing here?"

"There's an explanation, Alexander. I swear. I was walking down the street an then-"

"You bumped into the kid and decided to bring him here?" he hissed.

"Something like that. His father was about to hit him. And I stopped him from doing so. That man was insane. And he said that if I wanted him, it" he corrected "that if I wanted it, I could have it. And then he left, leaving the kid behind. What did you want me to do? Leave him there in the middle of the street?" he said, in the same way, a sharp hiss.

"He's a mundane!" replied Alec.

"He's a kid!" Magnus said. "He's no older than ten, Alexander." Seeing how his boyfriend still wasn't sure about the boy, he added: "He's the age of your brother."Although it was kind of a psychological manipulation it was an attempt to get Alec's pity for the child.

The change was almost immediate. Alec sighed deeply and closed his blue eyes for a second, when he opened them again, they were not mad at him anymore.

"You are right." He said. "You couldn't leave him there. Maybe tomorrow we can take him to the police? An orphanage? " he offered.

"Sure" said Magnus. "That's what I thought, too. He's still a mundane, after all." Alec nodded.

"What's his name" Alec asked, changing the subject.

"Daniel" Magnus answered while Alec turned around to reach for a box of chocolate bars.

"Here" Alec said, extending one to Magnus. "He must be hungry." Magnus smiled slightly and then took it.

Fifteen minutes later they were sitting at the table, eating tuna with toasted bread in complete silence.

True to tell, Alec didn't like cooking, but unlike Isabelle, he could at least fix a decent meal. Magnus could make the food magically appear in the table, but it was stealing, and, on the other hand, Magnus always took the food from a different house, and it always tasted different, sometimes it had too much oil, or salt or it was burnt or something else. Thinking on it, Alec had taken the resolution of cooking, though that usually meant taking food out from cans and scrambling it.

There was an uncomfortable silence on the table. But either of the adults could think of a way to break it. The boy hadn't raised his gaze once, and he was hardly eating anything, he just played with the food in his plate, as if that weren't enough, he seemed in the verge of bursting into tears, judging by the position he held.

Finally, Alec talked, directing to the kid. "You don't have to eat it if you don't want. You can leave it." The boy denied, but didn't answer.

The silence came back.

Alec almost lose it, but Magnus noted easily: when Daniel extended his left arm, the sleeve lifted, showing the beginning of a scar, a scar that came after being burned.

"How did you get that scar?" Magnus asked abruptly almost harshly, surprising the other two.

The kid soon covered the old wound with his right hand and then pulled the sleeve down again.

"It was an accident" he murmured rapidly.

"It was your father, wasn't it?" Magnus said, sharply.

"It was an accident" he repeated while he fought to not let the salt tears building up in his eyes fall.

"It was your father!" Magnus said, almost screaming, his voice filled with hate.

For Alec, it was obvious that the hate his voice held wasn't directed to the child, but to his father; it wasn't so for the kid. He was used to being hated by someone that was supposed to love him and look after him. For him that was normal. And this man that had appeared from nowhere, separating him from Father had been too kind, too polite; nobody was that good. He had been holding his true nature back. In the end, he was evil, he would hit him, beat him, yell at him; just like Father.

"Magnus" Alec called, his voice holding the message he hadn't said a loud: 'lower your voice!' Magnus nodded, but his hands were curled into fists.

And then, a green sparkle appeared out of nowhere and landed in a glass of water placed in front of Daniel. The glass cracked and then broke into pieces that fell to the ground.

It was then that the boy raised his eyes for the first time and looked at them.

They were blue. But that wasn't all. They were completely blue. There was no white in them. And the pupil wasn't round. The pupil was a thick line.

Those weren't the eyes of a human. Those were the eyes of a cat.

But they were gone in a heart-beat.

The boy rapidly made his gaze fall to the floor again.

Alec turned to look at Magnus, stunned. Expecting the view of cat-eyes to have been just his imagination, but instead he found a mirror to his own expression, one of surprise, in the warlock's features. They both nodded.

"I didn't- It wasn't- I'm sorry" stuttered the kid, standing up, while tears began falling from his blue eyes. "I'll clean it. I promise. Please don't-"

Alec got to his feet as well. "It's okay" he said. "It's just a glass." He neared the boy, that was already gathering the broken pieces, kneeled in the floor. He saw him shut his eyes closed and bit his lower lip, expecting a punch, and he felt it, the same that Magnus had felt a couple of hours back. The loneliness, the pain, the repressed tears. That child only knew that. No one had ever touched him kindly. Every time someone laid a finger on him it was to cause him pain.

Without thinking, he extended his right arm and placed it over Daniel's shoulder, slowly. The kid immediately froze. He expected to be yelled at, to be beaten, but this guy didn't seemed about to do any of the lasts.

"It's okay, really. We won't hurt you" Alec said, warmly. "There won't be 'accidents' here, I promise. Now, sit down, I'll clean it" he commanded, keeping his voice down, in an attempt of getting the boy to trust him. Shyly, Daniel opened his eyes again, but kept them down, avoiding Alec's.

He still debated whether to sit again and obey Alec or clean his mess. Then, a tiny shadow appeared.

"Meow" it purred while he rubbed himself against the kid's leg, startling him.

"Oh" Alec exclaimed "This is Chairman Meow. Here" he said, while he took the cat into his arms and then offered it to the kid. "You can hold him while I clean, okay?" Daniel nodded and reached for the cat, hugging him to his chest. His eyes were still glassy, but the tears weren't falling anymore. He then obeyed Alec and sat again in the chair he had left.

Magnus' and Alec's thoughts were already racing into different conclusions. Who really was this kid? He sure wasn't a mundane. Then, who, or more exactly, what, was him? A magician? A wizard? Too young. He wasn't a mundane that had read a book about magic and then learned a couple of spells. There was only one answer left, then.

He was a warlock.

Son of a human.

And a demon.

A Downworlder.

When Alec was done cleaning the broken glasses, he gathered the table.

"Magnus" Alec said, noticing how sleepy the boy seemed "why don't you show Daniel where he can shower and then take him to bed?" He proposed. Daniel shyly raised his eyes, but didn't meet Alec's; it was then that the Shadowhunter noted a scratch on his cheek. He repressed a sigh.

"Alec's right" Magnus said, getting to his feet. "Come with me, Daniel."

When he was done with the dishes he met Magnus in the room they shared.

"Is he asleep?" Alec asked while he sat in the bed, looking up at Magnus.

"Probably not yet." Magnus answered. "Chairman's with him. Though it's likely that as soon as he's asleep he'll go away."

Both smiled slightly at each other before breaking eye contact and looking away.

Silence came. An uncomfortable one. Until Alec talked again.

"Did you see his eyes?" he asked.

Magnus nodded. "Sure. They were blue. Like yours."

"Yeah." He responded, almost with sarcasm. "And cat-like. Like yours." He paused. "He's a warlock, isn't he, Magnus?" He finally asked.

Magnus nodded. "He is."

Again, silence. When a minute or two had passed, Magnus finally talked again.

"Did you see that scar?" He asked, with a voice that seemed shaky. Alec nodded slowly. "I can't believe it." Magnus said. "Eight hundred years have gone by and children with powers are still treated like that in the name of 'God'." The words that he hadn't said hung in the air. 'Like he treated me'.

"Fanaticism is a horrible thing." Alec seconded. "To a sport, to a religion, to a God, to a person."

"Eight hundred years" Magnus muttered tiredly.

"But it's over now, Magnus" Alec said firmly, searching for the warlock's hand and then encircling it with his own. "That's over, okay?" He knew how hard his childhood had been on the warlock. He never talked about it, not even to him. But it was painful. You didn't have to be a genius to realize how much it still hurt Magnus.

"It's over for me, Alexander." He said, dead serious, sending a glance to the closed door, almost as if he wanted to see through it and to the guests' room in which Daniel was staying. "Others have yet to deal with it."

Alec stayed silent for a minute, and then an idea lighten his young features.

"But we can help this one." He said, excitedly. The warlock looked at him, confusion crossing his beautiful features "We were already thinking on adopting a child, weren't we, Magnus?" Alec explained.

"Alec . . ."

"Weren't we, Magnus?" He asked, smiling slightly.

"Yes we were" the warlock answered, leaning down to kiss the Shadowhunter's lips as he encircled his waist and brought his smaller frame closer to his chest.

It was then that they heard the scream, that send them wincing with surprise.

They looked at each other, almost expecting that the other one had the answer to what was happening written in his face.

Then, almost as if they had agreed to, they rushed into the guests' room, the door flying open as they entered, without even bothering to call first.

They found the boy in bed, crying desperately while hugging his legs to his chest, head hidden between his knees, back shuddering under violent sobs, sobs he tried to muffle without results.

He didn't raise his eyes when they opened the door and entered.

Magnus turned to look at Alec, a confused look in his eyes. He may have been 800 years old but he had never in his life faced something remotely similar. Unlike him, Alec was somehow familiarized with it, even if the time when either Isabelle or Max had a nightmare and went up to him because their parents went out was long gone, he still remembered what to do.

Alec stretched his back, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

He located himself next to the bed, trying to decide what to do next.

"Hey, Daniel" he called out, with no response. He brought himself closer to the side of the bed, and then stretched his right arm, reaching for the kid's shoulder, who finally looked up at him, seeming scared. "It's okay" he offered, smiling warmly at him. "We won't hurt you. Don't cry like that, deal?" He said, trying to keep things simple, for the crying boy to understand, still, the look he gave him was one of pure fear and pain.

"Let's do something, okay?" he proposed "I'll tell you a story if you stop crying, agree?" The boy made no movement to tell him he did, but this was the only thing Alec had come up with, so he continued.

"There was once a wolf family that had just had their cubs and that were talking to each other during a night that would have been as any other. But that night, something that would change the whole Jungle happened, can you guess what it was?" He asked, smiling. By then, the boy had stopped sobbing, captured by the even voice that talked to him soothingly, but still, tears were falling from his blue eyes. He denied, by moving his head to the sides and the Shadowhunter continued.

"They heard the roar of tiger that tried to capture its prey. It came right from the entrance of Father Wolf and Mother Wolf's den."

"Father Wolf thought it was the same tiger the one that stepped right into his home. Wanting to protect his family, he jumped out, ready to attack anyone who wanted to threat his cubs."

"But it wasn't the tiger what he found. He stopped in the middle of the air and then fell almost in the same place from where he had jumped."

He stopped, and both Magnus and Daniel bend over, expectantly. The kid had left the fear behind and was now watching Alec with his full attention.

"It was a baby. A son of a man that was hanging from a branch. 'What is it?' Mother Wolf asked. 'It's a human cub' Father Wolf answered. 'Then bring him to me' ordered the female. And her husband did as asked."

"The baby immediately tried to get closer to Mother Wolf, searching for the warmth from her body. 'Look at that!' She said. 'He came here, naked and alone and he isn't afraid of me. I think we should take him in and raise him as any of our cubs.'"

"At first, Father Wolf wasn't sure about what he should do, but Mother Wolf was very excited and the motherly instinct took over her, making her want to protect the boy."

Since there was no remnant of fear in the kid's eyes, Alec decided it was safe to make a further movement, he sat down in the bed, slowly, and then, even slower than before, his left arm continued to encircle the boy's shoulders and then brought him closer to his body, pulling him to his chest and into something that was a half-hug.

The boy stiffened and shut his eyes closed, but he didn't make any movement to jerk away, maybe out of fear, though Alec wanted to believe it was because the boy could still understand that he didn't intend to hurt him, and the tension in his body was just because of psychological fear and trauma.

He continued talking, evenly, steadily, until Daniel shyly opened his eyes again.

"It was then when a threat to them all appeared. It was a huge animal, orange skinned, with black stripes. A tiger. His name was Shere Khan and everyone in the jungle feared him. He came in, trying to get into the inside part of the den, but being far too big for it. 'Give me the human cub!' He yelled. 'It's my prey and I'm in my right to kill it!'"

"But Mother Wolf wouldn't take any of it. She wasn't afraid of Shere Khan anymore. 'Don't you dare say that, you coward!' She said, very, very mad at the tiger. 'Aren't you ashamed? Making naked cubs your prey! How do you call yourself a predator?' 'Give me what it's mine, or by the bull I hunted I'm going to kill you too!' 'If that's so' Mother Wolf answered, 'By the fallow-deer I killed that I'm not letting you hurt this cub! He came to me, naked and in the middle of the night and he didn't fear me, and like that the day while come when he won't fear you and he'll be the one to kill you!' She threatened. 'Now go away and fear him, because it will be Mowgli the frog, and that's how I'll name him, the one to defeat you!' With that, Shere Khan left, mad and hungry, because the baby's parents had left, leaving the child behind and the baby had been protected too, which meant he had no dinner. And so, the wolves accepted the baby. "

Alec began to draw soothing circles around the boy's back, moving his extended palm through the boy's body comfortingly while he continued. A whimper of fear came as his first response, but when a moment went by and instead of the well-known pain of a punch came a warm feeling of calmness, the crystal tears finally stopped falling and the kid found himself relaxing against someone else's body for what could have been the first time in his life.

"Mowgli grew up in the wilderness, in the jungle, as any of Mother Wolf and Father Wolf's cubs."

"When time passed and Mowgli was old enough to realize how different he was from any of the other wild animals he understood he was also stronger than any of them, if not physically, in other ways"

"When he looked to the animals into the eye, they couldn't stand his gaze and had to turn around. They feared the man's strength, Daniel. They feared Mowgli, because even when he was just an eleven year old boy, he could control the Red Flower, because that's how wild creatures say 'fire' and fire can be very destructive if it's not used with care. Still, they accepted him as if he were another Son of the Jungle."

"But, overtime, he began to have problems with the pack of wolves and the wild animals. They didn't want him there anymore. He was dangerous. He was a threat to them. It wasn't just the fact that he was a man, but Shere Khan hadn't forgotten about his revenge, and he had convinced the young wolves to go against poor Mowgli."

"Akela, the leader of the Wolf pack, had to give in to the votes against Mowgli and exiled him, though Mowgli had gained his affect."

When Alec stopped to catch his breath, Daniel surprised him by encircling his waist shyly, almost as if expecting to be rejected–instead, the Shadowhunter began to run his free hand through the kid's black hair, in an attempt to tell him wordlessly he really was safe and had done nothing wrong.

"Mowgli then went to live in a human village but kept contact with Grey Brother, Mother Wolf and Father Wolf's eldest son."

"One day, when Mowgli was out taking care of the buffaloes, because in India they have them as cattle, Shere Khan finally attacked him. But the boy was prepared. He had stayed next to the female buffaloes that had recently had their offspring and were very dangerous. In normal circumstances, even a tiger would have stayed away from them, because a mad female buffalo trying to protect her son is deathly."

"But Shere Khan's mind was clouded up with madness and a need of revenge he couldn't understand. That was how he attacked. And that was when he dug his own grave. The female buffaloes stepped on him while they ran, upset, mad, furious at the one that threatened their children and themselves. They reduced the horrible tiger into a sack of bones."

"And that was how the Jungle became free from such a mean animal." He said, as he smiled fondly to a drowsy child.

"Is that the end?" Daniel asked him, yawning.

"Yes, that's the end."

"But what happened with Mowgli?" He demanded, though he could hardly keep his eyes from closing.

"Umm" Alec said, cursing his bad memory. "I don't remember." Seeing the disappointed look in the child's face, he hurried to add. "But we can look for it tomorrow if you wish, sounds any good?" He asked. His answer was a sleepy nod. "But for now, it's time to go back to sleep, little one." He said, as he got to his feet once more, freeing himself from the improvised embrace. He saw a look of worry cross the child's eyes, and then his small hand was gripping his wrist, in an attempt of enabling him to step back. "You'll be okay now, I'm sure." He offered smiling warmly at him.

"But if you need anything, you just have to call us, get it?" Magnus added from behind Alec, with a fond smile also. The boy nodded once and then freed Alec's wrist again.

"Sweet dreams" Alec said as he ruffled his hair and helped him into the covers again, leaving him tucked in bed. They still hadn't closed the door when he was already fast asleep.

When they were outside the room, Magnus closed the door silently.

Unconsciously and without planning it, they both began walking straight to their room.

"The Jungle Book?" Magnus finally asked when he thought they were far enough for Daniel to not to be woken up by their voices.

"Max loved it." Alec explained. "When he was little he would ask Isabelle or me to read it to him until we were sick of it. Still, he always preferred Jace and wanted him to be the one reading it to him, but he's never been too fond of magical tales and he would come up with excuses until Isabelle or I screamed at him and told him to just read the damn book. Just that not with those words." He said, smiling slightly at the memory, though it was also painful now that Max was gone. He tried to push that thought aside and concentrated in the positive things.

"Well, it worked wonderfully anyways."

"It's dumb. I read it like fifteen times and I can't remember the end."

"Maybe you didn't like it?" Magnus offered.

Alec just made a gesture that meant he wasn't sure.

After that, they both went to sleep as well, drifting off rapidly.

The next day, Magnus made a portal for Alec to go to the Institute to get The Jungle Book along with some other stories, since, as Magnus had bothered to point out, if the boy was really going to stay with them, they were many nights as the previous coming.

When Daniel woke up and walked into the dining room, Magnus was already settling the table. The boy stepped back, surprised.

"Morning" Magnus said cheerily.

"Good morning, mister" the boy answered quietly.

"Magnus" the warlock said; when a puzzled expression crossed the kid's face he explained. "Call me Magnus. And the tall guy with blue eyes is Alec, got it?" He said. The kid nodded.

"Where is him?" He asked quietly.

"Whom?" Said Magnus. "Alec?" Daniel nodded again. "He went out. He'll be back soon." He said. "You can sit down, if you want" he offered, pointing at a chair. Daniel obeyed him solicitously.

Said and done, Alec was back in what seemed no longer than ten minutes.

"Morning!" He greeted as soon as he opened the door, both Magnus and Daniel nodded as response. Alec came inside, holding a paper bag with what seemed bread in one hand and four books in the other one: Hatchet, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, A Thousand and One Nights, and The Jungle Book that he left over a table in the living room.

Rapidly, the house filled with the smell of scrambled eggs with jam, and soon they were sitting at the table.

They were eating in silence, like the previous night, but not an uncomfortable one, this one was somehow different. Until Magnus broke it.

He cleared his throat and then began talking slowly, almost uncomfortably. "Daniel" he said, calling everyone's attention. "What your father did, it was wrong, okay? Completely wrong."

"Magnus" Alec muttered sharply under his breath, but his boyfriend ignored him.

Daniel stiffened, not daring to look at either of them while he held his breath.

"No one should do something like what he did to you. No hitting, no burning, no swearing. You need to understand it." Magnus continued, his voice strangled. He was aware that his voice sounded a little cold and distant, but he couldn't help it. The previous night, when he'd seen the burn scar in the boy's body . . . it had all brought it back.

After his mother had committed suicide leaving him under the care of his stepfather . . . that had been a living hell. He may have been the son a demon –which by the way had abandoned him to his luck— but at the time, he had just been a kid. He remembered the lonely nights crying, the way that man had always looked at him, with hate, pure and throbbing hate.

To make things even worse, his stepfather, as it corresponded to the epoch, had been a former believer of Catholicism. That justified everything, didn't it? 'Fire purifies!', then burning him was alright, wasn't it? 'You're a caprice of nature that shouldn't exist!' then trying to make him disappear, killing him, was fine, wasn't it? And so on, so on for endless, cold, lonely nights and days that transformed into years and years, while tears and abuses and bruises and sufferings and feelings of forsakenness and loneliness kept making their way into the kid's body.

Until, in the end, everything that had ever been held inside the heart of an innocent child had transformed into fury—but it wasn't the fury of a child anymore. It was the one of a very powerful warlock. All that his stepfather had ever did was dig his own grave, had he been a little compassionate, maybe he wouldn't have died the way he did. The sadness and the loneliness had transformed into rage, the rage of the warlock that Magnus was.

It was an outburst. He hadn't planned to kill his stepfather—it had just happened. He couldn't remember what he had thought, what had happened. He couldn't remember anything. His stepfather had been about to hit him, when suddenly blue flames had appeared and then his body was lying limp in front of him with a bleeding wound in his head.

He'd burned the house and fled, disappearing into the woods, surviving as he could, until he'd learned to control his powers.

That had been long ago, centuries and ages had passed. Things had changed. It wasn't legal to burn people by accusing them of witchcraft, for example. But, it hadn't seemed like that when he'd seen that scar the previous night. It was a burn; he knew that first-hand.

He couldn't bring himself to think of the image of an adult hurting a child like that –nevertheless the reason— without feeling the rage making the blood in his veins boil with hate, making him sound hostile even if he didn't mean to.

"Magnus, stop" Alec called out again.

"He needs to know that, Alexander!" He screamed, though he really wasn't mad, just a little desperate maybe. "He needs to. He thinks that being punched and treated like dirt is normal and 'fine'. Well, it's not!" He replied, moving his hands with strength.

And then, the green sparkles appeared again. It was like a 'bump' like when something that's been held too much simply explodes. A bump and then a loud crash.

This time, what had received the magic discharge was a cup, a glass cup that had tea inside.

"I'm sorry." Daniel said, with a shaky voice. He stood up and tried to reach for the crystal pieces, wanting to clean it up. Alec stayed frozen, unsure of what to do now.

"Leave that, Daniel" he finally said, standing up. "I'll do it." Magnus turned to look at him and denied by moving his head to right and then to left.

He then stood up himself and kneeled besides the kid, encircling his shoulder slowly.

"I'm sorry" Daniel repeated quietly, almost pleadingly. "It wasn't my intention."

"It's fine" Magnus said, regaining his composure, in a calmer voice. "We promised yesterday, didn't we? There won't be 'accidents' here, Daniel. Not one." He said, fondly, regretting his previous outburst. "Plus" he added, smiling as he pointed to the broken pieces and began murmuring something intelligible under his breath and then, blue sparkles emerged from the top of his fingers and surrounded the pieces, without allowing them to see anything. When the sparkles were gone, the cup was complete again, and the tea was back into it, instead of dripping from the table to the floor.

Daniel turned to look at him stunned. And then with fear.

"That was ma-magic?" He whispered, with surprise and deeper, a feeling of fear.

"Not the one you might be thinking of" Magnus answered. "But yes. It was magic."

Daniel stepped back rapidly, almost pushing Magnus aside.

"It can't be" he murmured. "Magic isn't real. It's just the power of G-god what-" his speech was abruptly interrupted with his gasping for air. Magnus and Alec knew he couldn't breathe very well right now. Saying the name of the Lord, in whatever religion hurt the Downworlders, any of them, not just vampires.

Slowly, Alec joined the other two, in Daniel's left side, since Magnus was already in the right.

"Daniel" he said, politely "magic is real. Legends are real. They're always there. But munda-humans" he corrected "can't see it."

"Humans?" He asked, scared. "You aren't humans?" he ventured, almost shaking.

"No, we aren't" Magnus said slowly. "And neither are you."

That triggered it. The kid's small body started trembling and the color of his face was drained.

"What are you?" He whispered pleadingly.

"I'm a Shadowhunter" Alec said, though Daniel wasn't paying too much attention to him, but to Magnus.

"We're" said the eldest "warlocks. Sons of a human" he paused and inhaled deeply "and a demon."

"That's a lie!" The boy yelled hysterically. "Demons don't . . . They can't exist!" He cried out. He didn't know what was happening or why was it happening. He was scared. And these people, these weird people that suddenly had appeared and that for an unknown reason had been acting kindly to him were just . . . they were . . . trying to put everything downwards.

"Yes they can." Magnus replied slowly. "You never met your mother, did you? And your father never talked about her, right? Well, it's because she's a Demon."

"Demons don't exist!" He screamed. "G-god will defeat the evil in the world because he is the Fa-father and L-lord of all" by the time he had finished there were tears in his eyes and running down his cheeks. But they weren't just tears of fear or distress. They were tears of pain. Saying His name was painful, just thinking about God hurt him, pained him.

"Daniel," Alec said a little harshly "demons do exist. But they are not the only monsters around. Your father was a simple human, and how many 'accidents' did he made you endure? Magnus and you are sons of a demon. So? Has he hurt you?" He asked, trying to keep his voice from screaming. Daniel could only deny. "Do you think he would?" Again, the boy only denied. "Then who is the real monster? It's not your fault who your mother was. The blood that runs in your veins only defines what you are and not who you are, that decision is left up to you. You can decide whether to be a 'monster' and use your powers for evil or to be 'human' and use your magic for good." He said, serious. "And you don't have to pronounce His name if it pains you, boy, don't worry." He added, softening his voice just a bit. "In this house" he added "you don't have to pretend like that. We know it hurts, and we don't want to cause your suffering."

"Don't go so hard on him." Magnus commanded. "He's just a kid."

"He needs to know the things as they are" Alec answered simply. Magnus nodded almost negligibly.

"Alexander is right, kid" Magnus said, directing to Daniel again. "You don't have to be ashamed of your parents, it's your own actions what have to worry you."

The kid now cried silently, his gaze had fallen to the ground again and his fingers played with the fabric of his shirt showing how nervous he was.

And then, the comprehensive Alec was back again. It was not the fact of being told that demons existed, but possibly it was his father, who had repeated him he shouldn't exist, maybe it was the feeling that it was true, that after all, there was something bad with him. "There's nothing wrong with you" he said softly, when he understood what the problem was. "Nothing." He repeated, stopping his tears.

"Magic is something that can be controlled, with practice and will." Magnus offered. "I'll teach you. You'll be fine, Daniel." The boy nodded, using the back of his wrist to wash away his tears.

"Is that true?" He asked, pleadingly.

"It is." Said Magnus and Alec in unison, smiling slightly.

Daniel could feel that huge weight being lifted up and then thrown away. These people, these weird two people had just appeared out of nowhere and they were two strangers, but he knew they were right. They were right. Father had always caused him pain. Always. These people weren't doing what he did. The one with green eyes had said it, his father was wrong. If he had been wrong each time he hurt him, then, maybe he had been wrong about his powers too?

"Come on, let's finish eating" Alec commanded. "It's getting cold."

That said, their breakfast went on normally.

Days started to be like that. They would have breakfast together, and then Alec would leave on a mission or to visit the Institute or something else while Magnus taught something new to Daniel.

Around two o'clock Alec was back. He would cook something fast and then they would spend the afternoon together, maybe watch a movie or go around somewhere.

At night, Alec read a story aloud and then they would go to sleep. Sometimes, Magnus and him were woken by the child's screams in the middle of the night, and they would race into his room.

It took Daniel around half an hour to calm down again, though it was getting better: at first, the nightmares were a daily thing, now, it happened once every two days or something like that. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all.

Once the problem about the magic was solved, and Magnus and Alec had reaffirmed there would be no 'accidents', the kid had been very nice. He was slowly opening, revealing a kind and innocent boy that had been hidden under fear and pain and abuses for way too long.

Soon, the days transformed into weeks, and then into months. And soon, Daniel had mastered his powers, thanks to Magnus' help, if only the basics.

It was not that the kid could become a famous warlock or anything yet, but he wouldn't have an outburst like the ones that had happened when he had first arrived. Now, at least, he could control his magic enough for him to live around mundanes without putting them –or himself– in risk.

It was then when Alec and Magnus realized it was time to let him choose his next step. He could leave or he could stay with them.

While he had needed help with his powers it had just seemed natural for him to stay, for them to shelter him in their house, for Magnus to teach him how to control himself and his magic, so he was safe and he could use it in his favor instead of against himself.

But now, he didn't need help anymore.

He had to choose whether if to be taken to a foster house and then be adopted by a mundane family, staying with them or living alone somewhere.

That morning, it made three months since Magnus had bumped into this boy and brought him home. They were taking breakfast, but Magnus and Alec had already talked about it the previous night. It could be summarized in three words: 'It was time'.

Their meal had lapsed pretty normal, if only a bit silent. Finally, when they were almost finished, Magnus turned to look at Alec, and when they made eye contact, they nodded, agreeing.

Magnus was the first to talk. "Daniel" he said, his voice sounding a little strangled. "You now have the basic knowledge in magic. What's left of your learning is something I can't teach you. It's something you have to learn on your own." He explained, capturing the kid's attention, and then turned to Alec, as if asking to be relieved.

"That's why" Alec continued, a little nervously "Magnus and I agree that it's time for you to make a decision. An important decision" he remarked. "You have to decide whether if you want to stay with us, Magnus and I, or if you want to try to get adopted by a mundane family, since you can control your magic now and we are sure that you-"

"Yo-you don't want me here?" Daniel interrupted him, looking at him wide-eyed, scared.

"That's not it!" Alec exclaimed, finding hard to understand how he was feeling: nervous, sorry, worried.

"Kid" Magnus said, trying to appear calm "If we didn't want you here, it's been a long while since we would have said so."

"What he wants to say" Alec interrupted, sending a death-glare to his boyfriend. "Is that it's not our decision to be made. It's yours. Completely."

The kid nodded slowly, almost as if trying to process the information. A minute or two went by and the three stayed silent, almost holding their breaths.

"If I-" Daniel finally said. "If I choose to stay-" he gulped, slowly "would you-" he looked at the other two pleadingly "would you-"

"You'll be welcomed" assured Magnus, watching him fondly.

"We'll have no problem with it" seconded Alec, with the beginning of a smile tugging in his lips. "Not one."

"And if I leave-" he tried, letting the unsaid words hung in the air.

"We'll let you go" said Magnus.

"You'll probably get adopted by a mundane family" agreed Alec.

Daniel nodded slowly. He stared at them, wide-eyed, breathing rapidly, the complete and absolute fear that hadn't appeared in his eyes for some weeks had came back now.

Five minutes went by while the two adults were holding their breaths again.

"You don't have to decide right now." Said Alec, finally giving into scared and forsaken expression of the child. "You'll tell us when you are ready."

"I don't want to." he answered, slowly, shyly, almost fearfully.

"What?" Magnus and Alec asked, puzzled.

"I don't want to leave." He said. "I want to stay. With you." He added, almost in a whisper. His blue eyes, that didn't hide from them anymore were now looking at the floor, and though Magnus and Alec couldn't see them, they could guess they were glassy.

"Then that's something that can be solved" replied Magnus, softly, but also cheerfully.

Slowly, timidly, Daniel raised his eyes again, looking at them expectantly, and then smiling shyly.

Magnus and Alec sighed slowly, feeling relieved. They would have respected the decision the kid made, but they wanted him to stay. Not only because of a selfish feeling, but for a need of protecting and loving him that had appeared and blossomed in their hearts. And, if he had chosen to stay with them, that meant they were doing something right. Plus, and though that wasn't the first thing they had thought, it was safer for him.

Slowly, almost with shyness Magnus and Alec smiled as well. It had almost seemed that their hearts would stop seconds ago but now they were beating really fast, racing. It was just the endorphins that have been liberated after the nervousness they had just felt, but for them it seemed like if they had just run a marathon.

In that moment Daniel started laughing, stopping their thoughts, it was an innocent, cheerful, almost shy laugh that made the others realize just how much their answer meant to him. He had certainly laughed before, but this time it was different. It was a relieved laugh, surrounded by the shyness and the need of love of an innocent child that finally felt the acceptance this two people felt towards him.

It was probable that Magnus had just found him because of luck, but thinking on it now, it seemed like destiny, like something that simply was meant to be.

In an outburst of warm feelings and emotions, Alec stepped forward, and breaking the habit of approaching slowly to Daniel, he encircled the boy's body and brought him to his chest, smiling.

"I'm glad you've decided to stay." He whispered fondly into his ear. Daniel nodded against his chest, feeling tears build up in his eyes, but not the scared ones he was used to feel, but ones of joy.

Soon, Magnus joined them by embracing them both with a tight grip, a look of adoration in his eyes.

They made it legal —well, at least official– the next day.

It wasn't quite licit because Magnus had changed parts of the story by manipulating the minds of the social workers. Like, for example, making them believe that Alec and him were civilly married, or that Daniel had been previously in the foster house where these people worked and a couple of other insignificant details. But the end justifies the methods, right?

And, in the end, they were just trying to give joy to this child, the joy he deserved, and who was pretty much aware of what was happening, which made it, if not legal, at least right.

It was easy for Magnus to change the perception of the mundanes and though it was always funny to realize how simple their minds were, this time he was glad because of other reasons too.

Alec and him had frequently thought of adopting a child, but something always stopped them, apart from the fact that they weren't legally married: getting a mundane was out of the table, he would always be in danger; Alec wasn't sure if he could stand watching someone he considered his own child afford the Shadowhunter training, so a nephilim wasn't it either; and in the end, they couldn't make their mind. They haven't been ready yet.

But now they were.

Maybe, after all, a hybrid's destiny wasn't just suffering. Everyone, regardless of specie, had strong challenges to face in their lives, Shadowhunters, Downworlders, even mundanes, but the bigger the challenges were, the stronger the creature facing them was and the stronger he became after fighting them.

The rejection of a father, or of someone cared about was a low blow, but not necessarily the last one. There was always a sun shining, in the end, or, more accurately, at the end.

As they had discovered, life isn't just about suffering and getting over it; it's deeper.

It's about suffering, getting over it and then helping someone that's enduring the same challenge you went through. It's about being able to look back to your own suffering and realize that, though it seemed like the end of the world at that moment, it hadn't been—that life continued, strongly, throbbing, breathing.

And that, even if she could give hard challenges just to test your value and courage, she could as well be kind and give you the happiness you deserved.

Sometimes, in the way of what may have seemed a casualty, but that was a chain of events connected that brought your happiness to your door entrance.

Sometimes, it took more than 800 years to come, but it did arrive, always.


End file.
